Fashion designer George Davies _320
Emma Pinch talks to the man who has dressed a nation
THE man who founded Next, George at Asda and Per Una at M&S admits that the clothes he wears come from none of those shops.
Where then? There’s a pause from George Davies’s end of the phone. “I should say M&S but I would say Armani. I’m 5’8” and not overweight, but a lot of Italian guys’ figures must be similar to mine. I don’t wear a suit but I buy four or five pairs of Armani trousers and wear them for a year. Would you believe it?” he adds mischievously, “one of my favourite pairs of shoes are from George. But I made them so they represent value and quality.”
It’s no slur on the brands he created that he prefers an Italian design house to anything closer to home. What George Davies has always tried to do is add a dash of Italian finesse to our wardrobes, even if our budget doesn’t stretch to couture. Italian quality and the British passion for value.
Born in Liverpool in 1941, George built Next into a high street giant in the 1980s and in the 90s developed the first hit clothing range for a supermarket chain, George at Asda. In 2001, he launched Per Una, which he sold for £125m in 2004.
Key to his success is understanding that, along with budget, age and size shouldn’t be a barrier to good quality fashionable clothes.
“Women don’t think ‘I’m 35 or 45 and I’m not interested in fashion’,” he explains. “They adapt but they’re still interested in it. Unlike men who are as fashionable as hell, with funny haircuts, too, until they hit their 40s and they then suddenly look like their dad,” he adds.
Although his home is now in the Cotswolds, Davies retains a lifelong passion for Liverpool and Liverpool FC. As the club’s retailing boss, he is currently masterminding the creation of what will be Europe’s biggest football store in Liverpool One, which will combine theatre with 21st-century efficiency.
He’s made it his business to understand the different sartorial needs and desires of women in every city across Britain. So what does he think of Liverpool style?
“What I saw when I went to the Grand National fashion show is that Liverpool women go for it, whether it’s their hairstyle, make- up, or how they dress. They’re very confident women. I don’t think they dress for their boyfriends, but for their peers, and I don’t think a lot of men understand that. For a fashion designer, that’s fantastic. Black jackets and dresses aren’t very inspirational.
“The thing that shocked me as a Liverpudlian, when I went to Aintree races and it was really freezing, there were these girls all walking round – everyone was brown, they obviously go to Majorca every weekend – wearing strapless tops. That shows tremendous discipline. I like that about Liverpool. It’s very individual.” Liverpool clearly continues to inspire George.
“I think it started off when we became the music centre of the world,” he says. “I was lucky enough to go round the clubs on a Friday night, see the Mersey City Jazz Men, went to the cavern. It’s a cultural thing and you don’t get rid of culture. The culture comes from Liverpool in my stores.”
The two biggest fashion juggernauts to have left their tracks over Liverpool recently have been, arguably, Wags and Primark.
Of the Wag effect, he says diplomatically: “I think if any- body who brings publicity to fashion, it’s good. But I don’t think Wags have a major in- fluence on UK fashion as a whole. If you did a survey, it’s mainly the 16-25 age group that follow them, because women’s figures change.”
So would he have signed up Coleen for George himself? A long silence follows. “It’s quite difficult if you are a retailer to tie yourself to a particular person,” he says eventually. “So, though she will appeal maybe to a lot of Liverpool people . . . you’ve got to get the return they want.”
Women, as a whole, are not looking better for the arrival of Primark, according to George.
“It hasn’t changed my thinking one iota – value doesn’t come solely from price. I don’t mean to sound arrogant but, like someone who has a good ear for music, I have a good eye for fashion, and if a garment is a bad fit I see it.
“But girls between 16 and 25 don’t want to have something they bought for Saturday night in their wardrobe a year later. They prefer disposable fashion.”
Really strong trends coming out currently include the pencil skirt, he says.
“That’s where I’m moving towards, I haven’t done anything like that in the past,” he says. “All my skirts, normally, are a bit fuller. But they’ve been the biggest skirt seller in the country because of their cut. The other thing I’m finding a tremendous trend is accessorising within the garment, so you have the complete look. Indian summer, paisley and tie dye prints and mixing prints. You see that in Italy and it works.”
Italy still exerts an irresistible pull for the designer and he returns every other week. In Italy, he explains, design is still wedded to the old traditional crafts like embroidery and tailoring.
Whisper it quietly, but he drops strong hints he may have a new George Davies brand up his sleeve. He returning from Italy a day ago, after a visit to a design company he’s thinking about buying.
He says cautiously: “I’m invest- igating the possibility. I’m always interested in creating a new label which will be a big brand name. There’s a niche in the market.”
You can be sure he’d have the competition all sewn up.
* GEORGE DAVIES is delivering Vision – a Roscoe lecture – at St George’s Hall tonight. All tickets have now been allocated; however, if you would like to join the waiting list for returns, email to roscoes@ljmu.ac.uk
